She was born in Brooklyn to immigrant parents; her father born in British Guiana, but arrived in the US from Cuba, her mother was from Barbados. At the age of 3 she was sent to live with her maternal grandmother to attend school. In her autobiography
she thanked her parents for the gift of a good education. She received her BA from Brooklyn College in 1946 and her MA from Columbia University in Elementary Education in 1952.
She became the director of a child care center and in 1962 she was an Educational Consultant for the Division of Day Care in Brooklyn. She was the first black woman to be elected to Congress in 1968 and made a bid for President in 1972.
Let me speculate what she would have said about the Civil Defense film that was required viewing for all school children.

‘The idea that innocent children should be convinced that they can survive a Nuclear Attack by “Duck and Cover” is the biggest hoax our government has ever forced on this country. This scare tactic only escalates the Cold War.’ *